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I WAS missed! They contacted me because their maintenance guys screwed up a control system I built that was working great. My current boss sent me there and I fixed it in about 2 hours. They just paid my current employer for a week of my time to finish another project. We are now quoting other...

I am designing a lathe-like grooving machine for a customer. It grooved 1-1/2” & 2” plastic pipe on each end. The goal is tovautomatically adjust the cross-slides and tail stock for 4 different lengths and 2 diameters. A pick & place mechanism will remove the finished pipe and put another pipe...

Enter costs by the linear inch of cut. So a part that needs 2” of cut will properly cost less than one requiring 30” of cut. Holes should work the same way except you may need to factor in piercing.

I’d say clamp the material flat under a steel plate and waterjet thru both. Then use the precut steel plate to do the rest. You’d have to use holding tabs so the steel doesn’t fall apart.

I know someday I will have to give up my home, because of age, cost, or more likely my wife divorcing me. What I would miss most is a little shop space with my CNC machine and a few power tools like Portaband on a table with drill press, belt sander, bench grinder. So a MakerSpace near by would...

At my new job we are getting ready to implement AllOrders. I have done two implementations at previous jobs and the best thing about it was everybody using it at both companies loved it. One had 14 seats, one had 5. Unlike the software they chose at my last job instead. 6 months in and I...

My first shop after leaving the electrical business was a mold shop set up by a greenhouse that didn't work out because the injection machines he bought from a bankrupt company were obsolete. He told me I could have the shop for free if I just handled the emergency stuff for his automation. We...

A little follow up since I started the new job two weeks ago. It has been a wonderful change from my previous job! Shorter drive, better hours, nice people, comfortable temperatures, way less noise, work I really enjoy.

Chatter is likely from wind up. The drill is like a spring and you are untwisting it untill it springs back. If you think about it untwisting would cause it expand as well.

Haven't worked with high end CAM. Do any of the CAM packages support or automate deburring?

I started looking for the new job when my boss made ME cancel the order for a FADAL after we paid for it, so I would be continuing to make parts by hand. After years of managing projects that ranged from $100,000 to $3 million I needed written approval to spend over $100! He'd go away for a...

I think you don't have the knowledge needed to improve the solenoid design. I've worked with solenoids and I can tell you it is very difficult to design mechanisms using them. The force isn't constant and increases as the slug is pulled in making it difficult to control speed and impact. They...

Oh, one last thing. I got a call Sunday night from the leader of the FIRST robotics team I mentor and make parts for. They needed some repair parts right away. Because our team qualified for the nationals in Houston! They needed the robot in a shipping crate on Tuesday. We got it done.

Yesterday was may last day at my last job. I went out on top. I installed a new control system on one extrusion line that is now making the best product they have ever done. Last Monday after maintenance spent two days troubleshooting a machine then I correctly identified the problem in ten...

A couple of thoughts here. If you want quiet and long life you might want a 10Hp size compressor driven by a 5hp motor at half the speed. The huge old 100hp piston compressors ran slow and were relatively quiet. It almost seems like you would want a refrigerated air dryer in front of the...

This is where micro-stepping is really useful. Instead of the armature starting and stopping with a jerk at each step, microstepping varies the current to smoothly move the armature. The position accuracy isn't any better but the motion is much smoother and quieter. I highly recommend the...

Piezo ceramic actuator might help.

Large amperage current limiting fuses have a lot of small silver links. Because they could potentially go off like a bomp they have extremely rugged housings so not worth taking them apart.

Step on the inside of the blade tight to the floor. Twist the top away from you, two full turns and it drops to a coil on the floor. I know guys that can do it in the air by hand but not me. The floor method keeps it from ripping you up.

Robot meeting and trade show coming up in Boston in May. Might be worth the trip.